The truth is almost every business in 2018 should have a blog. There’s so much upside to having one and very little downside.

WHY SHOULD WE HAVE A BLOG?

Honestly if your business can’t devote the time and energy to blogging on a regular schedule, it might not be worth it. But, that shouldn’t be an excuse, in as little as 1-2 hours a week you can post content to your blog that will bring huge value to your business.

Blogging regularly adds content to your website that Google and other search engines use to help rank your website. The more you blog about topics related to your business the more search engines see that and help you climb the rankings. Now blogging alone isn’t a sound SEO strategy, but, it’s cost effective and time effective.

WHAT WOULD WE EVEN PUT ON OUR BLOG?

The truth is, you can put anything your heart desires on your blog. But, if you want it to be worthwhile you should typically keep your posts related to your business and bringing value to your customers. That means think of questions and topics your customers would likely ask you about and write about those. Specific examples would be: A wine store writing about different types of wine and food pairings, or a clothing store giving fashion advice, or an elevator manufacturer talking about different types of elevators and recommended maintenance. There are an endless amount of topics any one business could post about, and it’s really about sharing the knowledge and expertise your staff has accumulated over the years to potential customers.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD WE POST?

This is different for every company, but the one thing you should do is be consistent. Make it a part of your routine. Posting once a month might not be enough, but posting daily can become a chore. We often recommend once a week to start out. If you find that you can post twice a week go for it, but once a week gives you roughly 50+ posts a year to help build content on your site. That’s 50+ opportunities to attract new customers, engage current customers, and build your business. If you miss a week, don’t worry about posting two the next week. Just get back into a rhythm of posting consistently.

HOW LONG SHOULD EACH BLOG POST BE?

Once again there’s no clear cut answer here. The main thing is that you publish posts that clearly convey the information you’re trying to share. Sometimes that might be 500 words other times it might be 5,000 words. Gary Vaynerchuk said at Sloss Tech last year “If your content is good, it doesn’t matter how long it is, people will pay attention.”

WE WROTE A POST ON OUR BLOG, NOW WHAT?

No one will read your blog if you don’t promote it. Share links to your blog on all of your social media pages, especially LinkedInif your sales come from B2B. That’s an added benefit of writing a blog, now you have one day a week that you don’t have to worry about content. You can share your blog across all of your social media pages.

WHERE DO WE START?

The first thing you should do is meet with your team or who will be writing the posts. Sit down and decide when you would like to post, how often, and a handful of topics you’d like to cover. Come up with some rough outlines for each subject and start writing.